Book recommendations for G&T 6 year old please

[Misby007]

Hi, my son has just turned 6 and I'm struggling to find fiction books that are challenging but with appropriate content. He ends up reading the encyclopaedia and mostly factual books! We've done Roald Dahl, David Walliams, Enid Blyton etc. I'm reverting to the classics, but any other recommendations? Thank you

[BertrandRussell]

Just tKe him to the library and let him choose!

[user789653241]

Yep library. We also let my ds choose books from bookpeople website.
I also frequent local charity shops and stock up any books that maybe of interest to him.

[Mistigri]

It depends an awful lot on how sensitive your child is, and what his interests are...

At this age DD was a big fan of children's fantasy - the Narnia books, Diana Wynne Jones, an American(?) author called Patricia C Wrede. She also tried and didn't like Harry Potter, and tried and was scared to death of the Earthsea books. She tended to self censor and stopped reading if it was too much for her.

DS liked more age appropriate books about animal characters - Jeremy Strong's 100 mile an hour dog series (which I wholeheartedly recommend as being absolutely hilarious) , the Spy Dog series, Paddington, the Wombles. If you want something a bit more "literary" then Alexander MacCall Smith's Akimbo series is very good.

[pookamoo]

The problem we have for DD1 (7) is that books suited to her reading age sometimes have inappropriate content. She's quite sensitive, and still a "young" 7 year old if that makes sense? The "Year 5" books she reads are aimed at older children and she doesn't always enjoy them. Any suggestions?

[Misby007]

Thanks all. Mistigri, that's exactly it, he's sensitive and dwells a lot on things so a lot of books are not suitable. School have suggested Michael Morpurgo but I'm going to read them first as I'm just not sure he's old enough to cope emotionally with some of the more dark storylines. Thank you for the animal-based recommendations, I 'll take a look at those

[BertrandRussell]

Just because you can read something doesn't mean you should! Let him read all the books in the library for his age group and the next one up-the important thing at this stage is to keep him reading. Doesn't matter if it's technically too easy for him.

[Iwantakitchen]

We liked the flat Stanley books, Horid Henry (I can see some virtual eyebrows rising), the entire series of the Transformers books, then some of the young Sherlock Holmes books, then some of the Michael Morpugo books, and many fact books such as the Deadly 60 books, books about cars, etc. Just let him choose and find what he likes. There are so many excellent books out there. We completely skipped Enod Blyton both my DSs had no interest in them.

[TannhauserGate]

Arthur Ransome, starting with swallows and amazons
I can't stand morpurgo!
DS has also read Thor's locked in my garage which was good and not scary.
He likes Asterix too (but doesn't get half the jokes!)
Secret Seven went down well.
And the Jolly Rogers (Johnny Duddle)- there's three books.

[user789653241]

I totally agree with Bertland, that reading for pleasure doesn't have to be a challenge.

If you want other skills rather than just reading a book, you can try this website. It's very good.

www.readtheory.org/

[Misby007]

Thank you, I totally agree reading is for pleasure! Thank you for all the suggestions, we've enjoyed most of them- will try the young Sherlock though. Part of the issue is we're not in the UK and libraries are limited. He devours his school library books the same day. It's down to me to have options at home so it's really helpful to have recommendations of content appropriate books that others with more sensitive children have enjoyed. Thank you- keep suggestions coming :)

[BertrandRussell]

The Young Sherlock books are completely unsuitable for a sensitive 7 year old!

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

For gifted but young children I think older books aimed at his age group but written 40+ years ago are great because the language tends to be harder but the content safe. My 6yo ds loves Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf, Paddington, Pippi Longstocking, Mrs Pepperpot. Otherwise I am very much with Bertrand in having an overall approach of not sweating it too much and letting him choose.

[Lurkedforever1]

I agree with bert (possibly a first in g&t ) let him read whatever he fancies. Doesn't matter if he reads it quicker than he should.

Also ditto the countess, and I'll add in the originals of the incredible journey, 101 Dalmatians, animals of farthing wood, and terry pratchetts children's books. My naughty little sister is fun too, if he isn't bothered that it's written from the older girls perspective. You could also try james Herriot, providing you read it first and get him to skip any chapters that will upset him.

[TannhauserGate]

The Wombles are good.
How to Train your Dragon series are excellent.
Emil and the Detectives
The Moomins series

[Mistigri]

If you live abroad, get him a kindle - makes accessing English language books so much easier. Both ours used kindles from an early age because of the practical difficulty of sourcing english language reading material.

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

Oh yes, plus you can get lots of classics for free.

[mrsvilliers]

Mistigri I LOVED Diana Wynne Jones and thanks to this thread I've just found out there are more books in the Chrestomanci series I haven't read! However to the poster who recommended Power of Three, that totally freaked me out when I read it (possibly around 8) and also The Ogre Downstairs but I think Howl's Moving Castle is a bit gentler, or else I was older?! Aside from that I was obsessed with The Little House Series which I first read about six. If you can get her into those even the later ones are ok for young readers.

[Normanpriceisnotarolemodel]

Swallows and Amazons series, Oliver Moon series, Little House on the Prairie series should keep him going for a while!

[mrsvilliers]

Whoops sorry just realised you have a son. I still think the Diana Wynne Jones stories are excellent but also my brother read The Hobbit aged 5 followed by The Lord of The Rings series. The Hobbit took him six months apparently so could keep your ds going for a while .